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Google signal #1 for 2011: The Panda Update Means Content

Miko Kershberg - Friday, May 06, 2011

In the beginning of 2011 Google had introduced a major and substantial update to it search algorithm, known as the “Panda Update”. The update that started in North America in February was rolled out to all international English websites in April and is gradually rolled out to all languages globally.

This is a major signal of how Google sees the web in 2011. We all kept repeating the “Content is King” slogan that came from Google but we still got used to see bad sites with bad or poor content ranking high when we are searching on Google.

This is what Google reported regarding the intention of this update:“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.”

What Does Google Really Want

Google became what it is today by being able to show searches with the most relevant results (and faster than any other search engine). So, Google is constantly looking to find ways to automate their algorithm with criteria for the best results for a certain query.

As such, Google is looking for content that is useful and valuable. They want the content to be unique, interesting, worthwhile and recent. Furthermore, they have no problem with website owners that are making money from the internet, but there should be a reasonable proportion of advertisements and content on the pages, because the content is still the most important factor.

Lastly, Google is looking for quick response time (this is also why only recently they introduced the ability to monitor the load time of pages on Google Analytics), with the underlying assumption being that as consumers of search results we don’t want to wait for a web page to load.

The Effects of the Panda Update

Google reported shortly after rolling out the update in North America that it affected close to 12% of the search queries. Data that is being collected from various sources report that about 20% (!) of the ranking sites and pages were affected by this update, amongst them big “content farms” (websites that host content generated by the global community, without ensuring that there is no duplicate content and with the main purpose of using the content to make money) like eHow, Squidoo and Hubpages. The update caused huge effects on keywords visibility, ranking and of course on traffic.

Data in the UK is not different and in some markets even worse. Econsultancy published a report on several vertical industries, showing dramatic ranking changes, averaging 43% of the sites moved up, 33% fell and 24% remained in the same position.

There is no doubt the same will start taking place everywhere this update is being implemented.

What Google Signals with the Panda Update

This one is clear: Google is shouting loudly: pay attention to your content (and take care of your site’s load time). The days where you could have left your web site untouched for years or copy text from other places (something we see often, mainly with distributers’ sites that copy the text from the manufacturers) are gone, unless you wish to drop way back in the search results.

What to do to succeed in the post-panda era?

Let’s make this part short:
1. Ensure there is no duplicate content on your website. None that is copied from other places online or from other pages on your own website.
2. Make sure your website is being updated. It does not mean you need to have things that will make the 9 o’clock news, but maintain a fairly updated website.
3. Avoid using too much advertisements and/or AdSense ads on your pages (if you are into that).
4. Aim at adding content to your website on a regular basis. Even once a month – if you can’t do more – is good. Anyone said “Blog”….?
5. Make sure your site is not slow which means visitors will have to wait too long for the page to be presented. If it does, see if you are not using heavy images that cause this problem. Otherwise, think of improving your code or even replace the platform your site is using to a better one.